The last few days have been pretty tough for me, feeling as though I had finally hit that brick wall of supreme knackeredness and not quite knowing what to do with myself as a result. With Knickers away for a whole two weeks and Sid needing to catch up on some rest after pulling many 16 hour days for a project, I was pretty much left to my own devices caring for everyone and was really starting to feel it, with the added piquancy of ice and frozen taps as the cherry on the top of the muck heap. I knew something had to give when I found myself sitting on the yard blubbing with fatigue and not knowing where I was going to find the energy to get up again, yet knowing I had to or risk a very serious case of piles, apart from anything else.
Sid bless him has been a godsend the last couple of days and helped me do the yard. The timing was particularly apt as we had to close the boys in overnight due to ice-related treachery in the fields and my god can they shit for England! T will make one large stallion pile which is easy to deal with, but Q seems intent on crapping everywhere and it takes an age to muck out. So the help has been awesome and we've been getting everything done in record time, which has been splendid. It also coincided with sufficient thawing to allow me to get the boys out through the yard this morning to give them a workout.
Q first, and as always he was a complete gas. He's SUCH a bloke. After such a lengthy period doing nothing but hunching over a pile of hay in the field or stable, of course even a pipe and slippers man like him felt the pressing need for movement, and immediately set out in a nice forward ground-covering trot. Had there been a sound track, it would have James Brown, "I Feel Good". It's difficult to convey the glory I feel in sharing that joie de vivre as he ramps it up albeit in remarkably controlled fashion for one who has not had a good surface to play on for some two week. The girls were out in the picadeiro as their field was largely still an ice rink, so naturally he had to keep checking them out to see if they were watching. If it was a book title, it would have been The Joy of Movement.
T next, and the goats dutifully scattered as we came in, even Angie who was fastened to his haynet with the determination only a hungry goat can have. Same thing with him, real pleasure to be moving again and straight out into a nice big trot. Q did what he always does in such a situation, which is to say running up to the fence trying to incite violence while T puts on the most glorious floaty trot EVER. This incites Q still further, who charges up and down not knowing quite what to do with himself, while T floats along on a cushion of air, all hair and legs and drop dead Luso loveliness. Q stands for a moment or two before taking to his heels and galloping off down the field with his tail in the air, only to reappear a few moments later to have another pop. I love this, the posturing and displaying and the fact that they both really do seem to enjoy it. It's such a privilege to watch it. Minutes later, Dora appeared around the corner, an act which T wouldn't normally turn a hair at but on this occasion used to launch himself into a feel-good spooking and bucking frenzy that was awesome to watch. He was quite pumped up on the way back in, snorting and prancing, but settling at a quiet word. How I love these awesome boys. Someone once said that stallions wear their hearts on their sleeves (it may have been Lucy Rees), and they really do. They are so vibrant and alive, it is truly awesome.
We've been trying to work up the enthusiasm to go to Bluewater for the past couple of days. Maybe tomorrow will be the day. Luckily tiredness and general ennui in that regard have shielded us from newsworthy record crowds, which was nice. Record crowds are not somewhere I really want to be.
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